Cracking down: The Chilean Senate soon will...

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Cracking down: The Chilean Senate soon will consider a bill aiming to reduce the number of illegitimate children in the country, now estimated at 36 percent of births, says Gloria Bernal of the National Service for Women. The bill, already passed by the House or Representatives, would require unmarried parents to take responsibility for their children. It would give children not only the right to financial support and inheritance from both parents but also the right to any social status that comes from using their names. Although the bill addresses both parents, in effect it seeks to assign responsibility to fathers who abandon their children, Bernal says.